Dragon Ball: Defining Sapience
by Awareness Bringer
Summary: In a universe where the Tuffles have controlled the Saiyans for much of their coexistence on Planet Plant together, a new hope for the Saiyan people's resurgence is on the rise. Challenge story.


**Recently, while trying to look for new Dragon Ball fanfiction stories to read, I found story ideas by Quill of Molliemon on livejournal from 2014. Seven of which looked fascinating enough that I decided to try my hand at presenting them as challenge stories, like mellra's works. The stories will be identified as Dragon Ball: Saiyan Blood, Dragon Ball: Defining Sapience, and Dragon Ball: Post Earth. Post Earth will be based on one "plot bunny" as it were while the other two will be based on three ideas each, and, considering Molliemon thought of them separately while I just observed some similarities and decided to roll with it, it's purely optional to take at least one or a mix of two to three concepts.**

 **Anyway, let's summarize ideas #75, 28, and 7 in that order which prompted Dragon Ball: Defining Sapience.**

 **-Tuffles breed and export Saiyans as gladiator-like fighters to be pitted against other primitive species for galactic entertainment  
-Saiyans are micro-chipped to keep track of bloodlines, battle records, and ownership  
-Bardock becomes one of the more famous fighters, both as an individual and as a team leader  
-His skill is so coveted, that his second born child is stolen by a rival owner in the hopes that Kakarrot will be just as great  
-Kakarrot is lost somehow and ends up on Earth, where he is raised by Son Gohan  
-Alien scouts discover him after his son is born and press him into the entertainment fighting business  
-(Other DB fighters taken as well?)**

 **-Saiyans are considered animals by other aliens due to their aggressive and primitive natures, and the fact that their primary method of communication is telepathy, leaving their verbal "language" with a very limited vocabulary and incomplete  
-Tuffles export captive-bred Saiyans to zoos all over the galaxy and despite how dangerous they are they are very popular attractions  
-Earth has recently entered the intergalactic community and many planets benefit from their innovative Hoi Poi Capsule technology, earning them, among other things, an exotic zoo in Capital City with animals from all corners of the galaxy on exhibit  
-Tights Briefs, a Xenobiologist, ends up working with the Saiyans  
-Prince Vegeta, Napa, Raditz, Turles (Brolly?, Tarble?) are the Saiyans given to Earth as gifts  
-Kakarrot ends up in the black market and is jettisoned from a damaged smuggling ship, landing on Earth some years before the Intergalatic Zoo is built  
-Kakarrot is found by Son Gohan and is raised/socialized as a human child, and lives his life primarily in wilderness and rural areas, where Saiyans are unknown and he is commonly mistaken for a mutated human being**

 **-Tuffles keep control of Planet Plant and subjugate the Saiyans, turning them into soldiers-for-hire that they control and hire-out  
-Tuffles carefully control their breeding (artificial conception and gestation) and condition them from birth to be loyal and submit to their masters' control  
-This doesn't entirely work, many Saiyans harbor deep resentment of their physically weak overlords  
-Bardock and Gine meet, fall in love, and have the first naturally conceived Saiyan children in nearly 200 years**

 **Here are some guidelines before we start.**

 **No unnecessary bashing: seeing characters grow up and show hidden strengths is all good until it looks like the writer is purposefully making the character in question look like an unlikable nuisance at best and a complete villain at worst. Trust me, it's best to show both the positives and negatives of those in a story. I know it might not be easy for those that yelled more than they fought in canon (Bulma and Chi-Chi), but giving them the benefit of the doubt would be a fair sign.**

 **No slash: I try not to judge people who have different "bonding" preferences compared to mine, but I really don't think that characters that weren't listed as canonically yaoi in nature should be depicted as such. Not that I like gender bending much either.**

 **Keep the content at a controlled level: meaning that it's probably best to be mindful of which direction the story/stories will go. I like straight lemons as much as the next fellow, but given how things all are iffy on certain websites like FFN, it would probably be wise to just walk first before jumping.**

 **Don't shy away from asking me for advice or beta reading: however, I won't dictate your execution as it should ultimately be your decision. I'm doing fine with it so far with digemsmack over his Fairy Tail story which I gave my patronage for, Ascension of the Second Apocalypse.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Dragon Ball franchise or it's related concepts and characters, but Akira Toriyama and his affiliates do.**

 **[DBDS]**

 **Dragon Ball: Defining Sapience**

 **[DBDS]**

On Planet Plant, an Earthlike world far from Earth itself, two species lived in a well-connected, yet unequal, relationship with one another. Beginning in Age 550 with the non-native Saiyans' initial landing on the planet, the indigenous Tuffles had used their diplomatic guile and scientific advancements to bend the Saiyans to their whims. Seeing many opportunities in the monkey-tailed warriors, the Tuffles outfitted the Saiyans with microchips on the genetic level to entail the needed information that showed the latter race as subordinate to the former. Then, upon gauging the Saiyans' skills in battle as a race and individually, Plant's native offspring began to divvy up their species into three separate social classes that they could exploit as they pleased.

The Saiyan "Elites", as they were known, were the ones with the most privileges by serving as the Tuffles' mercenary army. Normally hired by numerous off-world figures unaligned with either the Galactic Patrol or the Frieza Force, these soldiers of fortune were well-regarded by outsiders for getting the jobs assigned to them accomplished with impressive results through having the highest power levels and the best training to accommodate their roles as well as much of the non-Elite Saiyans for similar reasons along with their rights to freely travel away from Planet Plant and interact with off-worlders within the parameters set by Tuffle law. Despite the lack of legal status for the Saiyans in Tuffle society being against the laws of the Galactic Patrol and the two races themselves being seen as a potential threat to the Frieza Force's influence over the galaxy, the combined might of the Saiyans and the political cache owed to the Tuffles by their past clients kept Plant from being attacked in either the name of "Justice" or "Conquest". They were also noted by numerous observers to be, for all intents and purposes, the more widespread representatives of their race due to those privileges as well since many beings that were neither Tuffles or Saiyans were allowed to interact with the other classes.

The Mid-Class Saiyans were presented as gladiators trained and transferred across many coliseums to fight against suitable fighters from other species, whether primitive or advanced, for the sake of entertaining the masses of the intergalactic community. In spite of not having the same amount of privileges as the Elites, the more successful of these gladiators enjoyed a similar celebrity status as their mercenary counterparts to the point that being associated with a famous Saiyan gladiator team was a sign of influence. These fights also helped resolve disputes either on Planet Plant or between itself and its fellow worlds in the galaxy before unnecessary conflict arose. In fact, it was through one scouting mission to find new "contestants" in the blood sport that Earth was discovered and introduced to the universe at large.

The Low-Class Saiyans, however, were noted by those who knew the truth of their status to have drawn the short straw as it were. While the vast majority of non-Plantians were led to believe all the normally unseen Low-Class Saiyans merely did typical laborious activities found in most societies where slavery was the norm, the truth was much grimmer.

In the past, the Saiyans once had the opportunity to transform into gigantic apelike creatures that were stronger and more feral than their more Humanlike appearances by absorbing through their eyes the light of a full moon that then causes a physical reaction from the tail. But once the Tuffles learned of this, they used their advanced genetics technology to downplay the power, height, and savagery of the Great Ape transformation. By Age 737, in place of the Great Apes remembered in Saiyan stories and tightly guarded Tuffle records, Human-sized and slightly docile versions of them were exported to zoos across the galaxy where they served as popular attractions. Unbeknownst to all the zoo patrons, these Great Apes were in fact the Low-Class Saiyans themselves.

In contrast to their historical depictions as a peaceful and amicable race, the Tuffles did not hesitate in trampling the Saiyans underfoot and reaping the benefits from their involuntary hard work. By the Age 700s, things barely improved for the Saiyans as many of them gave their lives in futile attacks against the Tuffles while others began to lose hope that things will change. While class promotions and demotions weren't uncommon, they didn't always soothe the humiliation the Saiyans felt. It was a trying time in Saiyan history.

And with desperation in such trying times, bad things will follow.

 **[DBDS]**

 **Outside Gaming Arena-W, Badlands of Planet Plant, Age 737**

'I don't think this could get any worse.' Raditz glumly thought to himself in his room. The young Saiyan had placed himself back in the trailer used by the gladiator team his parents were a part of as soon as the Tuffle policemen stopped asking him questions about the incident, if it could've been called that. It felt more like a tragedy to Raditz and for justifiable reasons as he saw it.

That night was supposed to have been another victory in the arena for Team Bardock, upon which Raditz and his younger brother, Kakarot, wanted to celebrate by using their combined savings to buy a few chocolate cakes mixed with ice cream for the whole team. The desserts from Earth looked and smelled good just as the idea Kakarot came up for them sounded better, but both of them lost their guard and, in a flash, Kakarot was gone. A group of cloaked and masked Humanoids stole him when Raditz least expected it, and when he tried to protect him as well call for help, the kidnappers had already vanished.

From what their father taught him about fighting battles to the death, Raditz knew that when in the heat of a fight, a warrior must not be worried for the lives of others, and be ready to make sacrifices for the sake of survival and victory. But, at that moment, Raditz was angry, afraid, and experiencing grief over his brother's unknown fate. He tried to resolve himself, to be strong, but the recentness of it all bore into his psyche. Without controlling himself, Raditz grew teary-eyed and would've started to cry for real if he hadn't heard knocking on the door.

"Raditz, is it okay if we come in?" His mother, Gine, said.

After a quick sigh and swiping away his tears, he replied. "Yes."

After being let in and making room for themselves with Raditz on his bed, his mother was quick to envelop her firstborn son into a hug as the other male in the room, Bardock, watched knowingly. "Oh, Raditz." She said with much sadness. "I don't know how you're handling this. Please tell me. You know you can always talk to me."

Not willing to give in to his despair again, Raditz used his most controlled voice to answer. "I have to be strong. I can't let any attachments I have…"

"Son, please don't use my own words to lie about what you're really feeling." Bardock interjected with a good amount of curtness that Gine almost glared at him.

Raditz was genuinely confused. "But you said…"

"Raditz, you weren't ready for a situation like this." Bardock said more softly than before. "None of us were. All we can do is hope Kakarot will be found someday. And if those blasted Tuffles don't and won't find him, we will. Tora, Fasha, Shugesh, and Borgos are with us, and yet, if wasn't for your mother's reasoning, I wouldn't have done something I wouldn't be able to come back from."

Taking his father's words into effect, Raditz then rediscovered his own words. "I'm scared for what may happen to him, Mom and Dad. And I can't help but blame myself for what happened. I couldn't protect my own kin."

"It's not yours alone, my child." Gine replied in an attempt to reassure him, but was starting to cry herself as Raditz hugged her back in a mix of sadness and longing.

While Bardock wasn't known for involving himself in such emotional situations, he nevertheless held back his own tears as he crossed his arms over his wife and oldest son to give them a hug of his own.

"We will find him, my family." He said even more softly. "No matter what it takes or how long, we will find Kakarot."

 **[DBDS]**

 **For the sake of argument, let's just imagine that the Saiyans in this wear a different kind of armor than the Battle Armor utilized by Frieza and his army of thugs. The whole class system is definitely different than what we remember from the original source. Anyway, I hope many readers like what I presented and I get some takers. Just PM me when you do.**

 **And thank you, Quill of Molliemon, for coming up with these ideas.**


End file.
